Getting in on locals gaming
Suncity Group Holdings Ltd. will buy 34 percent of a Vietnam casino project in Hoi An, the company stated in a recent filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Suncity’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Goal Summit Ltd., will make the purchase for an aggregate consideration of HK$600 million ($76.8 million).
The seller is Suncity International Holdings Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company owned by Suncity Chairman and Macau junket investor Alvin Chau Cheok Wa.
The buyer will receive 50,000 shares of Star Admiral Ltd. along with its obligations, liabilities and debt, according to GGRAsia. Star Admiral “indirectly owns” the 34 percent stake of Hoi An South Development Ltd., developer of the integrated resort project.
The integrated resort includes a casino, hotels, residential housing and a golf course. According to the filing, Phase I of the planned seven-phase project is expected to be complete in early 2019, reported the Asia Gaming Brief. The first phase includes a casino with a total of 140 gaming tables and about 1,000 slot machines, a golf course, hotel rooms and suites and a condo-hotel.
Suncity says the ownership stake will help the company get into the Vietnamese gaming market and tourism-related businesses in the country.
The resort venture also involves Vietnam-based asset management firm VinaCapital Group and a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Ltd., AGB reported.
“The group is confident on the outlook of the tourism sector in Vietnam and believes there will be an increasing demand for resort facilities in popular tourist destinations in the country, including Quang Nam Province, which has received almost a quarter of the country’s total number of foreign visitors in 2016,” said the Hong Kong-listed firm.
Chau reportedly learned of the investment opportunity from Andrew Lo Kai Bong, one of the executive directors of Suncity Group Holdings. “As consideration for his services, Mr. Chau agrees to procure the vendor to pay Mr. Lo a certain percentage of the realized profit of the vendor upon realization or disposal of its interests in the project subject to a maximum amount of HKD120 million,” the filing stated.
Lo told GGRAsia the Hoi An project developer would apply to be part of a three-year pilot program announced in January that will test locals gaming in Vietnam. According to Bloomberg News, prohibiting the Vietnamese from gambling in their own country’s casinos has meant a loss of $800 million in revenue every year. After the three-year pilot is complete, the government will make the final decision whether or not to permanently allow Vietnamese citizens to gamble at home.
There are now eight casinos in Vietnam, with three to come. The largest is the Grand Ho Tram Strip with 90 gaming tables.
